Learning to rest like a lion

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight..."

Even the lion, the king of the jungle needs rest time. Interestingly the lion sleeps between 10-20 hours a day. Isn’t it quite astonishing that animals know instinctively how to project manage, how to conserve energy and how to make the best use of their own personal resources. We, on the other hand are inclined to forget to bring the concept of rest into our lives and in our modern day 24/7 culture, real rest has become elusive. We may think we are resting when we are sitting on our bottoms. However, with the television in the corner of the room, a laptop on our knee, a phone in our hand and a mug full of our chosen caffeine or other stimulant, are we really resting in the true sense? Is it any wonder therefore that we can’t even sleep properly these days? Most of us will have experienced difficulties with sleep onset and also getting good quality continual sleep. Sleep problems are becoming a bit of an epidemic across the western world. You can read some of our top tips for a good night's sleep here. 


Working under the functional medicine umbrella, we recognise sleep as one of the fundamental functional pillars when it comes to health. Sleep is when our bodies heal, repair and are restored. During the day, our cortisol levels should change with sunrise and sunset. Ideally, they should be higher in the morning and gradually come down across the day with lower levels in the evening to prepare our bodies for sleep. However, imagine a body which is out of balance and which is producing too much cortisol in the middle of the day and/or in the evening. This is becoming all too common a problem these days as we are overstimulated, not just from our exposure to electronics and the internet but being part of a culture that puts pressure on us to work in the evenings , checking emails etc. So we feel we have to keep going when our natural rhythms need to prepare the body for sleep.


Imagine what would happen if lions lived their lives the way many of us do, without adequate time of rest. There would probably be a lot of hungry and angry lions wandering about and let's face it we don't want to come face to face with a 'hangry'l ion!! Lions spend the majority of the day resting which in terms of their survival makes perfect sense. They expend a lot of energy when they hunt so if they were to move around during the day when they don’t need to they would waste a lot of their energy and end up creating more work for themselves by having to hunt more regularly. Lions rest because they know they need to. So what can we learn from lions?

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Lions teach us that periods of rest can help us to be productive when we need to be. A lack of rest and adequate sleep impacts our work lives, relationships, mood, hormone balancing, blood sugar, libido, adrenal and thyroid function, immune system and so the list goes on..... in other words every aspect of our health. It is as necessary for our own survival as it is for lions. So how do we find rest in the modern world?


Our top tips 

• Start the day with a wake up light that increases the light slowly, waking you up gently so you don’t get a sudden big cortisol spike. Wake up lights can help restore the sleep/wake cycle and are good prevention for SAD. 
• Limit caffeine to early part of the day, going for herbal and fruit teas in the afternoon
• Build rest into the day by eating slowly and mindfully, celebrating each meal and each valuable nutrient
• Limit time on social media and set limits on Facebook and Instagram.  This will prevent addictive scrolling and overstimulation from screen time. Also, imagine how more productive we'd be if we replaced our scroll time with some mindfulness or a short walk etc?  
• Spend time in the outdoors. If you can’t leave the office because of time constraints or weather, simply close your eyes and listen to the sounds of nature. There are many apps including the calm app which offer a much needed escape and a time of rest in the middle of a busy working day. If we did ten minutes 2 or 3 times a day over a lunch break or after work this would give us a time of rest.
• I recommend all of my clients to use relaxation music. In an office situation, you could use ear phones. So if you are stressing over a mountain of emails give yourself the gift of rest by listening to some relaxation music and you will find you will be able to tackle one email at a time without stressing over the other 50 emails waiting underneath— they can wait.
• Breathing techniques. Taking some deep breaths and simply focussing on the breath for a few minutes can take us out of the fight or flight state and get us into rest and digest. I often recommend this to clients prior to having lunch, especially if they are people who are inclined to eat quickly and are prone to indigestion. A body that is in a sympathetic dominant state, ready to run from a tiger (or his boss!) is not a body that’s ready to sit down and properly digest his food. 
• Take up yoga or pilates. Join a class or start doing it in your own home. There are many online videos on youtube. Boho beautiful is one of the yoga channels we really enjoy. 
• Take a power nap during the day. Research suggests napping during the day can improve memory and creativity. 
• Book a massage, reflexology or other therapy for relaxation. 
  

Finally, do whatever you need to, to incorporate patterns of rest into your day.  What you find restful might be completely different to another person.  Whether you find rest in a hobby like knitting or singing, do something that helps you relax. Your body will thank you for it.

And breathe......